English transcript

Dr. Ainley, is there such thing as insanity

among penguins?

I try to avoid a definition now of insanity

or derangement. I don't mean that a penguin

might believe he or she is Lenin or Napoleon

Bonaparte, but could they just go crazy because

they've had enough of their colony?

Um, well, I've never seen a penguin bashing

its head against a rock. Um, they do get disoriented.

They end up in places they shouldn't be, long

way from the ocean. These penguins are all heading

to the open water to the right. But one of them

caught our eye, the one in the center. He would

neither go towards the feeding grounds at the

edge of the ice nor return to the colony. Shortly

afterwards, we saw him heading straight towards

the mountains, some 70 kilometers away. Dr.

Ainley explained that even if he caught him

and brought him back to the colony, he would

immediately head right back for the mountains.

But why?

One of these disoriented or deranged penguins

showed up at the New Harbor diving camp, already

some 80 kilometers away from where it should

be. The rules for the humans are: do not disturb

or hold up the penguin. Stand still and let

him go on his way. And here, he's heading off

into the interior of the vast continent. With

5,000 kilometers ahead of him, he's heading

towards certain death.